Exotic Cuisine of Mumbai (Part 1)

In a country where dialects change every few miles, cuisines are no different.Maharashtrian cuisine ranges from vegetarian and kosher meals to coastal and non-vegetarian varieties.  To top it all, its capital city - Mumbai - the most glamorous, vibrant and cosmopolitan city in India, adds to Maharashtrian cuisine.

This post is my attempt to introduce Maharashtrian vegetarian food, to those who have not been to Mumbai, and who may go there soon.

Mumbai Food comprises a wide range of exotic traditional cuisines and spicy fast food. The staple diet of the indigenous inhabitants of Mumbai includes cooked rice, curd rice, chapattis, curries, vegetables, pulses and homemade sweets.

Let me introduce you to the various delicacies we had to savour when  my family and I visited Mumbai.

A hot, and spicy cup of Masala Tea(aka Masal Chai in North India) that we had in the Vits Hotel, Mumbai. It literally means spiced tea, and is made by brewing tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs.

Another meal we had was our dinner at Sri Devi restaurant, which was a pure Indian Vegetarian Restaurant. To be honest with you, we did not miss meat at all, as we were showered with an array of vegetarian dishes all along our stay in India. In this restaurant, we had the Vegetarian Briyani, Assorted Bread(or roti) which were Cheese Parotha, Paneer (Indian Cheese) Parotha and Kulcha. They was served with Chick Pea Curry.

Paratha is one of the most popular unleavened flat-breads in Indian cuisine, Pakistani cuisine and Bengali cuisine and is made by pan frying whole-wheat dough on a tava.The paratha dough usually contains ghee or cooking oil which is also layered on the freshly prepared paratha.Parathas are usually stuffed with vegetables such as boiled potatoes, leaf vegetables, radishes or cauliflower and/or paneer (South Asian cheese).

Paneer Paratha is nothing but Indian bread stuffed with cottage cheese, green chillies and spices (as above). Although it was a little spicy, but it was exotically scrumptious to eat with the raita.We also had cheese Paratha, which was much milder (2nd photo).

  In North India Briyani is only served with raita, so we took the liberty to order Vegetable Kofta Curry(as above). The gravy was silky smooth, and you can feel the spices, but it was not overpowering. Eaten with both the Biryani, and bread, it was delicious.

Biryani was super good too, and you can see how long the rice grains are, which indicates it is of high quality of the Basmati, unlike the ones in Malaysia.

What can I say, maybe because of the fresh products available, or the cooking expertise, eating in India is far much more joyful, than eating Indian food in Malaysia !!